...and this week in meager offerings...

o/

This past Sunday and Monday, my GF and I took a quick trip out of town. As such that was more on my mind than gaming, though I suppose that there is a little bit of gaming stuff to report.

Saturday evening my Stirland army took on Rob's Ogres yet again. Turn one saw little action aside from his lead belchers gutting my Swordsmen regiment in return for a few crossbow bolts getting stuck in some man eaters. Turn two, the man eaters advanced on the crossbowmen, who apparently were shooting with fear on their minds and wiped the man eaters out! The cannon crew decapitated a lone leadbelcher with a cannon ball, and the main battle lines connected.

In melee a unit of bulls made mincemeat of my halberder's, yet with the general leading them and (as usual) partaking of his 'Bottle of Belligerence' (Crown of Command) they held their ground. In the center the warrior priest had gotten off the 5++ ward in HTH prayer and that, combined with hatred saw the Great Swords and spearmen detachment best, and summarily run down a unit of bulls that also contained his BSB and Butcher (general).

At that point, Rob threw in the towel, and vowed to sell 'em on ebay, as usual...lol.

Then a great weekend was had with the little woman and I've been a bit slow in returning to the gaming fold. I did do a smidgen of painting last night however. I had picked up some French Microarmor VBLs which I intend to use as Mechanized infantry in Battletech. Mechanized infantry is maligned online as the absolute worst unit type in CBT, however as dirt cheap as they are who cares? I see them as cannon fodder infantry who don't need a sometimes expensive APC/IFV. Plus the VBL has kindova cool and futuristic look to it.

The French Army frequently mounts missile launchers on these, so equipping them with SRMs and LRMs doesn't even require a stretch of the imagination!

As for this weekend, I plan on taking my GF's Tau out for a spin to get an idea as to how they work with the new rules. I figure it'll make teaching her how to use them a bit easier. Speaking of her Tau, Screech donated to her cause last weekend. Passing to her the remnants of  his (and prior to that my) old army. This added another squad of Fire Warriors, even more Stealth Suits (she has too many of those to fit into a force org at this point), a few much needed pathfinders, and a bunch of bits which are always handy.

Aaaaaaannnnd...that's all I got for this week.

Some minor progress on the Tau front.

o/

Well I finally got a hold of some black primer and was able to make a test run on the Fire Warrior's color scheme. As well as an alternate color scheme on the Devilfish's commander. My Girlfriend gave both the thumb's up, so will keep both as is. I don't expect much in the way of painting vehicle crews though, especially as the Tau tank commander special character is a FAILcrap mini and a whopping $16 for a little bitty guy that's leaning out of a turret hatch. Umm...yeah, no thanks.

Anyways, as the vehicles have a lot more blue on them than the regular infantry, I painted the crewman's armor to reflect that. Meanwhile, on the Fire Warrior below the shoulder stripe will be used to tell the squad's apart (blue in this guy's case).

Speaking of the Tau, my progress on my Gyrmn-counts-as-Tau has also been slow. However I did finish one of my shield bots. Cute little guy that it is,  I'm sure my opponents will be all to happy to kill it to maintain the 'Grim Dark' which has no place for cuteness.

Yesterday I also received my Grymn's  Mawe walker in the mail.  As stated previously, this will be used as a counts-as-Commander's crises suit (sans jump jets). Its about the height of a crises suit and has a 50mm base. I sent Hasslefree an inquiry yesterday, to see if I could order another twin-gatling gun arm, since in hindsight, 2 twin-linked burst cannons would look really cool!

Its amusing to note that the 'little guy' companies can produce resin models that equal the design quality of Forgeworld. Yet, at the same time their products lack the incessant part warpage, modeling defects, and dreadful slathering of mold release (that just won't fucking wash off!) that Forgeworld so often does. Indeed the gatling gun barrels are hollowed out to about half their length, and are perfect. No issues whatsoever! Things like this, when compared to some of my Forgeworld models (lack-of) quality experiences, make me wonder if I'll ever buy from them again...

The bloody fields of The Empire.

o/

This past Saturday, my Stirlanders took to the field of battle to fight off and invasion by Nordland of all places! The photos that follow will hopefully give a fair account of that grim battle...

A peaceful field, soon to be soaked in The Empire's blood...

General Bob of Nordland, and his army arrayed to oppose mine.

Cavalry...that would prove to be a problem.

My Stirlanders advance! An enemy handgunner unit has already been gutted thru a combination of magic and arrows. In return my spearmen detachment suffered the same fate. However those two surviving spearmen would soon prove their mettle!

Battle is joined!

...and the first round ends in a draw! My swordsmen  are crushed beneath Nordland's knight's flank charge! My General and Halberders hold his Great Swords in place meanwhile my Great Swords pursue the fleeing Nordland halbeders!

Nordland's halberders rally only to be broken and pursued once again by my Great Swords (and their 2 spearmen). Meanwhile Bob fortifies himself with more caffeine!

My general's regiment receives yet another charge and is dwindling fast! However taking yet another swig from his 'Bottle of Belligerence' (Crown of Command) He holds the line single handedly and would continue to do so for another two turns!

My General finally falls, while the shattered remnants of the Black Guard of Morr (Great Swords) finally run off the Nordland halberders and prepare to withstand a deadly crossfire of handguns and artillery...

...and withstand it they did!

Casting irresistible force and blasting all spells from his mind, my Amber wizard uses the Transformation of Kadon to turn himself into a mighty Horned Dragon...um...Spider. Hey, at least its a little closer than a Space Marine Rhino!

Don't shoot it lads, its on our side! Unfortunately, the Nordland hellblaster volley gun tore it to ribbons before it the dragon-spider was able to reach the enemy's line.

Looky there boys...knights!

With his intrepid companions having finally fallen (including those two spearmen), my BSB takes on the depleted Nordland Great Swords, and would hold them in check thru to the battle's end.

lol, much fun was had, though when all was tallied up, Bob's Nordlanders had decisively carried the field! I suppose I need to get a dragon or something similar as my Amber wizard has a habit of transforming himself into large beasties. Some cavalry might be a good idea as well, as the cannon could never seem to take more than one down at a time. That said, surprisingly, none of the warmachines blew themselves up!

Still, was good to see another Empire army in action with a more veteran general than I, as it gave me some insights into how to better use my army. Neverness stayed for the game and it sounds as though he might have an Empire themed campaign in mind. Hmm....

Reinforcements for Stirland!

...and none too soon I might add...

o/

So, as mentioned a little ways back, the same evening that Kushial gifted a large contingent of Tau to my GF, Rob also handed me a pile of Empire sprues from an old army of his. It was kinda like Christmas, as we walked in the door and were both given presents! Digging thru the mountain o' parts, I was able to bolster my Army of Stirland considerably! Here's what I was able to muster from his leftovers:

I had purchased 10 assembled crossbowmen off of ebay just a day prior, and was able to give them a command group with the new bitz.

9 old edition starter box handgunners. 'Mediocre Engineer Nick Nolte' has since taken command of the unit. However any marksman-like skill he might have had, is negated by the inaccuracy of his blunderbuss.

11 spearmen, again from an old starter box set. These will form a detachment for my Great Swords.

Also quite of the blue, Necron Bob asked for my address and has since sent me a cannon and crew from the Skull Pass boxed set. These Dwarfs have no doubt gone mercenary, though using human stat lines, they've probably also gone 'soft' in the eyes of their brethren.

With the additions of a 50mm base, and some more bitz from the pile o' sprues from Rob, they'll not only fit right in with the army, but also be providing some much needed fire support. Now, I just need to scrounge around and see if I still have any artillery dice...

With the new additions (and if I still spam Heroes) I can field up to 2k of the Empire. However not wanting to go the spam route, I removed two of the filler characters. In doing so dropped the army total down to a more reasonable 1850 points. As such my Stirlanders and their new additions will be taking on thebob's Nordlanders this coming Saturday at the FLGS.

That's 'MISTER Trashcan' to you buddy!

o/

SPOILER ALERT!!!

We played another marathon game of Battletech this past Saturday and Hive Angel took copious notes and photos meaning a battle report will be forthcoming. However I can't resist, and need to mention one particularly glorious moment in the game for me (later in the game I had an equally disastrous moment with a different mech, but I'll let Hive Angel blog about that with glee...).

So on to my moment of glory!

I fielded 2 lances of my Legion of the Rising Sun, and a mixed armor/mech lance of what was initially podunk militia, but I instead fluffed up as a newbie (and short lived) merc unit call the 'Ruff Puffs' (a nick-name taken from the Vietnam war). As such here it is:

The Ruff Puffs are a newly formed Mercenary command, and this is their first contract. As such, they're trying really hard to do a good job (especially as they have to pay off the C-bill loans for their new equipment)!

Impressed by the LotRS, they were hoping to facilitate good relations with their fellow mercenaries and have even offered to let the Legion command in on their strategic planning. Unfortunately, all attempts at inter-unit coordination have thus far been rebuffed. Indeed, the Legion has thus far ignored the Ruff Puffs entirely as they keep getting (quote) 'their worthless asses' in the Legion's way...

The Commander of the Ruff Puffs fielded the unit's only mech, an Urban mech.  As bad as that thing is (which is solely why I bought it) its even worse when maneuvering thru trees and hills. Seriously, jumping to and fro is the only way it can get anywhere (and even then only barely)! So after 3 or so turns of wallowing in the trees, the Urbie finally got into a firing position, and chose to piss off its only viable target, a King Crab assault mech. In general that's a really bad idea for something as crappy as an Urbie.

Firing a shot with its LBX-10 autocannon, it hit with 6 rounds (the LBX is basically a giant shotgun), rolled 2 lucky center torso potential crititcal rolls with a double snake eyes, and then manged 3 engine hits, KILLING IT IN ONE SHOT!!!

Bow down before me!

 Such glory shall never be repeated by my Urbie I am sure,but what a glorious moment it was! If there is any survivng gun camera foatage, then it would make for an excellent marketing tool, or possibly a morale booster for the poor bastards that get assigned to pilot Urbies.  His moment of glory was relatively short lived. The Ruff Puffs, like their Vietnam counterparts were wiped out, though at least the Urbie pilot should have been able to eject and escape to safety...well, at least until his creditors found him. At that point, P.O.W. would probably be more of an appealing fate...

I'll leave all of the juicy details on who killed what and where to Hive Angel. It was a good game though, and one of the rare games that went to completion.

He also purchased a bucket load of mechs, still in the blister from a local guy who went on a spending spree at one point, but has been selling off his collection at a steep discount! As such I put in an order for a lance of mechs for the bargain price of $20! On top of that, Hive Angel gave me 2 more! Whether it was a late Christmas gift, early birthday present or both is no matter as they're much appreciated! Thanks again!

Oh, and to all who may be interested, gifts are always accepted...

And one last bit, once again, there was little accomplished on the painting front, other than the Goblin Infantry Support Vehicle below, painted in LotRS colors. It performed rather well in its battlefield debut I think.

After 3 photos, this was the least blurry, and I gave up trying to get a clearer photo. Caffeine FTW!

Its all for the greater good!

Ya know, if this was the Tau symbol, I'm sure most within the Imperial Guard would switch sides immediately!

lol, I'll get to that sticker in a minute. First off though, Kushial commented aways back that he had some Tau Stealth suits that he was donating to my GF's cause. I figured he had a squad...nope, he had a bit more than that. Actually he gave her 16 stealth suits AND 2 piranhas!!! Holy Cow! Its a good thing I hadn't gotten her a mini case yet as her army would have outgrown it overnight!

As it stands, just with the Tau minis that's she's inherited which are already assembled, her army clocks in at 1350 points! Adding in what is yet to be assembled will come close to 17-1850 or so! Its still a bit unbalanced as the troops allotment is lacking, as is heavy anti-tank weaponry, but for starting off, things are looking quite good for her army. Its all pretty amazing to be honest and again, many thanks to RTVoril & Kushial!

Lacking a mini case of their own, the Stealth suits are blending into my grandmother's dollhouses which are currently being stored in my game room.

Another squad is up on the roof, possibly hiding from the neighborhood dogs judging by the yellowish suit...

The as yet unassembled portion of Kushial's gifts!

As for the bombshell decal above. Tabletop Fix (which is something of a real danger to the wallet) posted pics of one of their releases last week and I checked out the Bombshell site. Whilst perusing the 'sidekicks' section, I found and ordered a pair of HLpR Bots. They do have a hovering drone mini, but I didn't care for it when compared to the HLpR. I'm going to use them as shield drones form my 'counts as Tau' Grymn contingent.

Aww...aren't they cute?

Almost exactly the same size!

While something of a sacrilege I suppose, I put the HLpRs on Warmahorde bases, as the GW 25mm and 40mm bases aren't the same size diameter of a flight base. however as you can see, the flight stand matches up almost exactly to that of the Warmahorde base. These little guys will be shorter than their tau counter parts, however I can't see them providing the Gyrmn much protection when they're hovering well above the heads of their parent squad! If anything they'd just be drawing attention to the Grymn which would be rather counter-productive for a 'shield drone'.

Speaking of the Grymn themselves, I finished another Prospector bringing them up to 3 painted. As you can see below, the shield bots are proportionally similar, and side-by-side they stand about shoulder height to a Grymn Prospector.  Kinda appropriate as the Gyrmn themselves are about shoulder height to a Tau Fire Warrior.

I rather like how the snow stuck to his boot tread came out.

Ogres..wha? What happened to the goblins???

I guess the ogres ate them.

Yes, after expecting Murl to show up his goblin horde, he instead fielded Ogres. He sold a nicely painted ogre army some years back, but apparently found enough parts to field another ogre army in his bitz box (and people still give me shit about finding an unassembled Chimera in mine some years back...go figure). Non-deterred by this sudden turn of events, my army of Stirland was up to the challenge as you will see in the photo dump/bat rep below.

The forces of Stirland brought a cheerleader!

My battle line.

The Ogre's battleline.

Turn 1, my Amber Wizard, casting the Transformation of Kadon (or whatever its called) turned himself into a rhino! Ermm, I mean a black hydra. We didn't have anything to use as one, but figured a rhino was about the same size as a Hydra's base.

Tank shock!!! Uh, I mean the 'hydra' charges the...maneaters? They outflanked whatever they were.

2 turns and 3 hull poi-I mean wounds later, it was victorious!

No one else was moving too far forward yet. A few failed long range charges, but nothing else of note by this point.

The Swordsmen charge forward, beat and summarily run down the three leadbelchers, huzzah!

Stirland charges with an accompanying flank tank shock! 'Screw you fantasy, I got a rhino!' Was my battlecry, lol!

Rhino/Hydra goes splat as does my halberders (and general). The Greatswords however hold their line!

The butcher and his two buddies tied them up for a bit...

...and then the Swordsmen managed a rear charge!

Squishing them between the two units! Victory was mine!

So not a bad first run! My wizard's Hydra transformation really swung the advantage in my direction from the get go, and things may have been quite different without it. The archers' shooting was entirely ineffectual vs. the Ogres. However they'll have some support in that area here shortly.

Indeed, both my Stirlanders and my Girlfriend's Tau received a lot of reenforcements, and quite unexpectedly too! But due to my grandparent's imminent move, my gaming time for this week and weekend coming will be next to nil. So I'll save that for a later post or two.

The enemy approaches...

Sire! Sire!

What?!?

Goblins Sire! Goblins have been spotted in the Haunted Hills and they're heading this way!!!

Fool, how many times have I told you not to bring that damned hog in here? Besides, aren't the goblins in those hills the undead's problem?

Apologies sire, but…wait, what? No, umm…well maybe, but…well, they're still heading this way!

…sigh… Very well, muster the army for battle.

We...we don't really have an army sire…

What? What happened to the levy increases I ordered?!?

No crowns for it…you spent the treasury on the purchase…umm, I mean to arrange passage for your new concubines from Wurtbad. Prior to last winter…remember?

Ah yes. They were new then weren't they? T'was a rather good investment that was, bout time again for me to send for some more. They don't last long out here do they? Shame the local crop of them is so poor, disgusting peasants. No matter for right now though, will just make a note…for later…there. Now, back to this goblin concern of yours. We still have our old regiments…don't we? I know we have somebody up on the walls…

Regiments? Well some of them...yes, not too many though. Still no cavalry, nor any hand gunners, or cannon…

Calm down fool, it's only goblins we're talking about. Probably half dead ones too knowing those hills. Speaking of, what of the Black Guard? Have they returned from their annual expedition? What was it, to rebury the dead of Sylvania, again? If only they did it right the first time. I do wonder why they didn't take care of the bloody goblins while they were already out there?

Yes they're back. Well, most of them anyways…some didn't survive. Oh and they went to the south as I recall sire…the goblins are coming from the north.

Then we'd best point them in the proper direction this time! Tell them to muster immediately with uh…well, whomever else we have to fight. Oh, and send some of those woodsmen out to find that damned heathen wizard!

What if he doesn't want to come this time? He was rather hostile the last time you sent for him.

Bah, tell him that the goblins are eating all the nuts and berries in his beloved forest, and they're pissing in his creeks too! That ought to roust him out of his cave.

Um…yes, very good sire. I'll have the woodsmen do that…

What about that damned witch hunter? Where'd he go off to?

Umm…I believe that he's still burning those halfings at the stake…the ones from the caravan that arrived last week. Remember? Last I heard he planned to keep doing so till they named all of the witches that they're hiding.

He's cooking halflings? The irony. Tell me, are those little trouble makers actually harboring a witch?

It's doubtful sire.

hmm…well despite the merit of his current endeavor, inform him that there are goblins coming and they have some shamans amongst their number, that ought to catch his fancy. Oh, and keep our wizard friend out of his sight, or at least till that fanatic is knee deep in goblins.

Yes sire…but…

But what?

But what if the goblins don't have any shamans?

So what if they don't? Neither do the halfings. They're all the same to a Witch Hunter anyways, just different colors.

Um, right. Shall I call a war council for you sire?

No, no…I was just on my way to the tavern anyways, this bottle's empty. Besides I know the regimental sergeants, if we have any of worth left, will already be there. Now you go on and do as I've ordered and get your damned hog out of here! Or else I'll have my cook put it on a spit for tonight's feast!

Yes sire! Right away sire!!

As you've by now realized, Murl's goblins have decided to invade Stirland this coming Saturday. It will be his first 8th ed WHFB game, and my first in a long, long time, as well as my first ever fielding The Empire. As you can surmise, I have a character heavy, infantry light force, that is decidedly lacking in the cavalry, artillery, ranged combat areas. No matter, it ought to give us an idea of whether or not we actually want to pursue this change from the norm any further or not.